Throwing the Unexpected
by detective-sweetheart
Summary: I can't send them to hell without you, he said, and she mused wryly that sometimes, life just threw things out of nowhere.


**A/N: This is me attempting to remember what happened in the last episode of the three-ep arc that was between NYC and LA. Hopefully, I didn't screw anything up. And TOS isn't mine. **

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"You told me in the beginning that you believed in monsters and things that go bump in the night. And you told me that they should all rot in hell along with their lawyers."

Having her quotes thrown back at her like that, especially when the person quoting her is looking to get her to do something that she doesn't want to do, isn't something that she particularly enjoys. She has the feeling that maybe this is because it happened time and time again in all those arguments with Neil, but then again, this is different. She's not arguing with Jack, or at least, she isn't now. But she still doesn't like having him throw her quotes back at her. He goes on anyway.

"I can't send them to hell without you," he tells her, and she gives him a look.

"You know, I'm afraid to turn around for even a second in case he comes along to take her," she says, of Katie, who's fast asleep upstairs, completely oblivious to her mother's issues, which Jamie is immensely grateful for.

She's quit her job of playing Assistant District Attorney for a man whom many comment on as being one of the most feared prosecutors in the city. She wonders why, idly, for a moment, and realizes something. She misses being an ADA, already. And it hasn't even been that long. She misses watching Jack get pissed off about something, only to figure something else out that will make the irritability go away. And she misses being the one to knock some sense into him, because heaven only knows Adam's probably gone and stuck him with someone who has no idea to handle guys like him, and if there's one thing Jamie's good at, that's it.

So she agrees to come back. Finds a way to balance it with home life, so Neil has no excuse to continue to push for sole custody of their daughter, because damned if she's going to let him have it anyway. It's a power struggle, and she knows it. Something that he thinks he can do just to scare her, and damned if he didn't. Katie's the one thing she has outside the job, and being threatened with losing her does not settle well with her at all. Life, Jamie thinks, as she stands in a courtroom, discussing bail, definitely has a nasty little habit of throwing things that you don't expect.

Later, when things are somewhat calmer and the trial's underway, and they're not _really_ stressing out over trying to convict this guy who they know killed his ex-wife just because she screwed him over in the movie industry, they talk.

"I'm glad you're back," Jack tells her, and means it. "You have no idea about the kids Adam tried to stick me with."

Jamie bites back a snort, more because she's in the middle of eating than anything else. "Don't tell me that's the only reason you asked me back," she says. Jack shakes his head.

"Of course not," he says. "I asked you back because I need someone who knows what they're doing, and who knows how to back up whatever I'm doing."

"So, I'm some kind of lapdog now?" Jamie asks dryly, and Jack shakes his head again.

"That's not what I meant," he says. Silence lingers between them for a long moment, and then, "It was too quiet around here."

"If that's your way of saying you missed me, then I'm flattered," Jamie replies dryly, and then, "You know, I actually missed being around here."

"You've only been away for what, a week? Jack asks, and once again, there's silence, until he speaks again. "You know, if you need me to be there in family court…"

Jamie shakes her head. "I think I can handle it," she says, even though she doesn't really think she can, especially not if Neil ends up getting what he's aiming for. But Jack doesn't need to know that yet.

"Well, if you change your mind," he says, an open ended offer that she'll probably take him up on if this goes any further than it already has, just because she doesn't like the thought of having to go at it alone if she loses this, which has become, in the back of her mind, her most important case.

Way to think of it like some run of the mill thing, Jamie, says a voice in the back of her mind, sarcastically. That's exactly what's going to get you into trouble.

Trouble that she shouldn't have been in, in the first place. Neil is only doing this to be a pain in the ass, as far as she's concerned, and she feels almost guilty because of it, because he's still Katie's father, and he does deserve to see her.

"I don't know," she says, finally, and Jack looks up from what he's doing as she goes on. "I'm just hoping it all ends up well."

And when the trial is over, and the death penalty is handed down, and there's nothing left for her to worry about, Neil talks to her, finally.

"I'll drop the custody suit if you drop the death penalty," he says. Jamie shakes her head at him.

"All these years, Neil, and you still don't know me," she says, and walks off, without looking back.

He follows her, and holds out the letter he'd been pushing at her mere seconds before, and signs it, and then walks off.

And just like that, it's over. He's not going to fight her for custody anymore. She can keep her job as long as she likes, provided she doesn't stay away from home more often than not, as if she really has any intention of doing that again, after this time.

Life, Jamie thinks, again, as she heads off on her own once more, definitely has a habit of throwing the unexpected at you.


End file.
